Games using objects thrown between people must have been played since time immemorial. The use of a ball, as the essential feature in many forms of gameplay requiring physical exertion, must date from the very earliest times. A rolling object appeals not only to human babies, but to cats (particularly kittens), dogs (particularly puppies), and various other carnivores.
Some form of game with a ball is found portrayed on Egyptian monuments. In the Odyssey of Homer, which is believed to have been written in the 8th century B.C., Nausicaa is described as playing at ball with her maidens when Odysseus first saw her in the land of the Phaeacians (now Corsica). Furthermore, Halios and Laodamas are described as having performed before Alcinous and Odysseus with ball play, accompanied with dancing, in the same location. By contrast, the scriptures of the Israelites have no mention of the use of a ball, much less of “ball games”.
Among the later Greeks, games with balls were regarded as a useful training substitute to more violent athletic exercises and warfare, as a means of keeping the body supple, and rendering it graceful. However, ball games were generally left to boys and girls. It is not clear whether regular rules for the playing of ball games were made; if so, very few traces of such rules remain.
The ancient Romans used leather balls which were solid or filled with air. In the present patent application, the term “ball” need not refer to a spherical object; for example, various prolate spheroid or “cigar shaped” balls are used in American, Canadian, and Australian football and in rugby.
Although many types of balls are today made from rubber or a synthetic polymer, this form was unknown outside the Americas until after the voyages of Columbus. The Spanish were the first Europeans to see bouncing rubber balls (albeit solid and not inflated); these balls were employed most notably in the game called the “Mesoamerican ball game”. Balls used in various sports in other parts of the world prior to Columbus were made from other materials such as animal bladders or skins, stuffed with various materials.
In about 1970 the Parker Brothers company began marketing a polyurethane volleyball under the trademark “Nerf®”. Marketing slogans promised that one can “Throw it indoors; you can't damage lamps or break windows. You can't hurt babies or old people.” The four-inch (102 mm) ball was followed by a large version called “Super Nerf® Ball”. Shortly after, in 1972, a basketball game called “Nerfoop” and the Nerf® football joined the family, with the latter quickly becoming the most popular Nerf® ball.
A website located at couchpotatofootballthegame.com is drawn to a smartphone app virtual football game employing a virtual football depicted as landing on various objects in the interior of a room. According to this website, the app plays the game as follows: a touchdown (6 points) is scored by the virtual football landing on the couch and staying on the couch; a touchdown and a 1 point conversion (7 points) is scored by the virtual football hitting the pizza box or cans and landing on the couch; a touchdown and a 2 point conversion (8 points) is scored by the virtual football hitting the lamp and landing on the couch; a field goal (3 points) is scored by the virtual football landing in the space behind the couch; a safety (2 points) is scored by the virtual football hitting the pizza box, cans, or lamp and not landing on the couch; and a fumble or interception (0 points) occurs when the virtual football does not hit the pizza box, cans, or lamp, or land on the couch.
Maley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,782 discloses a ball game device and method. The device comprises a spherical body having eight equally-sized faces; the faces are flat-surfaced so that they can rest upon a playing surface. The game is played so that the face facing upwardly on the surface after the ball comes to rest after being kicked, struck or rolled determines the fate of the user in the ball game. The faces have indica displayed that indicate the outcome in a baseball game.
Carbonero, U.S. Design Pat. No. D510,608 is drawn to an ornamental design for a strike zone pattern for a sport ball.
Edison, U.S. Patent Publication US 2013/0090186 is drawn to a golf game using golf balls having a plurality of markings, each marking, if the very top of the ball displays such marking, relating to a future action; generally such action being the type of club to be used in a future shot.
Harvey, U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,971 is drawn to a projectile to be used as an amusement device and having six indented planar surface areas containing raised indicia.
Chambers, U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,558 is drawn to a method of initiating interaction between clients and psychological therapists using a game piece having patches corresponding to general topics or issues for discussion.